Electrolytic production of printing-plates and the like.



UNITED STATES "PATE T OFFICE.

AUGUST LEUOHTER, OF BROOKLYN, YORK.

ELECTROLYTIC PRODUCTION OF PRINTING-PLATES AND THE LIKE.

No Drawing. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 23, 1909.Serial No. 491,727.

PatentedSept; 12, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that T, AUGUST LEUOHTER, a citizen ofthe United States, anda resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the ElectrolyticProduction of Printing-Plates and the Like, of which the following is aspecifi cation. l

The invention relates to a novel method of producing a new printingsurface or plate and the like. It is well known that electrotypes andanalogous printing blocks and plates are commonl made of copper and thatthe softness of t e printing surfaces has occasioned so much loss andannoyance that various processes have been resorted to with the View ofproducing improved and more durable printing surfaces. These priorprocesses have not, as is commonly known, produced entirely satisfactoryresults. In some .of them hard printing surfaces have been produced butthey have been too thin and also too brittle to be considered entirelyefficient or adaptable for general use, especially on modern high-speedcylinder presses. Notwithstanding the various endeavors made to improveelectrotype printing plates, the copper plates are generally in use. Acopper printing plate possesses many good qualities,

owing to its ease of production, lack of brittleness and othercharacteristics, but the copper plate lacks durability and thecapability of withstanding the heavy modern ress-pressures, as well asthe capacity of faithfully portraying color or delicate lights andshades to the degree desired in reproductions of fine half-tone plates.One attempt to improve the copper plates and es-. pecially to renderthem more durable, has been by depositing, in an electrolytic bath, athin film of nickel over the finished copper plate. This film of nickelwas necessarily so thin as to add little increased life to the plate andin addition deprived the plate of a portion of the sharpness ofdelineation it would otherwise have possessed. Another attempt toimprove printing plates has been by depositing nickel to form a verythin shell .over the surface of the wax mold or case and then depositingcopper on and as a backing for said shell. One difficulty connected withthis latter process is that nickel sulfate alone will not only notdeposit readily'but will nottravel overthe entire surface of the waxmold or case to produce the shell, and the result hasbeen that incarrylng out the process it has been deemed necessary to use a doublesalt in the bath, whereby a complete though less durable shell hasensued, or to deposit a thin film of another- This printing surface maybe formed of any thickness but for the sake of economy in mater als,speed of production and general requlsites in practical commercialpractice will generally be deposited in the form of a' shell on the waxmold or case and backed by a deposit of copper.

The printing surface produced in accordance with my invention is harderthan either nickel or iron and possesses great tensile strength; it hasthe hardness of steelfand lacks brittleness; it can be readily removedfrom the wax mold or case; it'faithfully reproduces the finestdelineations of the mold; it is non-corrosive under all the conditionsthat printing plates are usually subjected to; it is extremely durable,and its cost of production is not greatly in excess of that of a copperprinting surface while it is far more durable and more economical ofuse.

In carrying out my invention I prepare the wax case or mold in thecustomary manner up to and including the step of blackleading andwashing off of the same, and hence this portion ofthe eneral process,being commonly known and practiced by electrotypers, need not bespecifically described. My process involves the production in anelectrolytic bath, of the printing surface on and in reproduction of thedelineations presented by the face of the wax case or such mold as maybe used, and said surface is aware,. any

known.

r deposited on the shell. By my'process I am formed by' depositin in onecontinuous operation iron-and nic el on the mold to produce a plate orshell, which may thereafter be backed, if desired, by a deposit of coper or other metal.

The printing sur ace, whether -a' plate or a shell, is thus formed of acomposite'metal or alloy and is therefore neither ,a nickel or an ironsurface but a surface of-peculiar nature and possessing char-.aCt6I1StlCS not present in, soy far as I am printing; surface heretoforeIn the practice of my process I preferably employ the nickel as theanode and an iron salt, preferably sulfate of iron, in the bath,

, and-the mold .having been hung in the bath in the customaryinanne'r asa cathode, the

- I deposition of the ironand nickel on the mold 'i will follow. In theproductionof electro-' type's, the action of the bath will be permittedrtofcontinue until a shell of the requisite thickness has been formed,and thereafter the .mold' and shell will .be removed from the'bath and"submitted to another electrolytic bath in which a copper backingwill'be enabled to successfully make the plate or shell of any desiredthickness in the nickelandgiron-bath but for the sake of economy inproducing electrotypes I prefer to form the plate or-shell of only therequisite thickness and then back it up with copper, which tain thestrength ischeaper than the metal of the shell. In

.earryingon the process and in the continitunderstood that my inventionalso comprises the use of iron asgthe anode and nickel in the bath. i e

The printing plate produced in accordance with and embodying myinvention possesses hardness to an exceptional degree coupled withtensile strength and springiness,-

and it may be bent into curved form for cylinder presses without anyprevious annealing. The strength of my plateis such that'it may be madeof considerablethin-.

ness and yet possess a durability enabling it to-do the work of four orfive successive copper plates Without changein its printing face.

. My invention is of particular value in theproduction of electrotypeplates, since the deposited shell however-thin it mabe, may

owingto its tensile strength and exibility,

' be readily stripped fromthe wax surface.-

-A shell of iron would-require, owing to its brittleness, to be formedof considerable thickness,-as compared with the shell of my invention,and' would become distorted under the heat used in the backing-up stepor the. securingof the plate to the typemetal, as commonly practiced.

The fact that my rinting plate possesses the characteristics. ofhardness and springiness or, flexibility, is of very great advantage andadapts 'it for eflicient use on modern high speed cylinder resses.

The advantages 0 securing ahard printin surface of uniform character androper th ckness are obvious and such sur ace is produced by myinvention. In addition the plate made in accordance with my inventionfaithfully reproduces the finest delineaitions of the wax case or moldand hence is well adapted for the reproduction ofhalftone plates of thehighest character. One

reason -vvh my plate so faithfully reproduces the est delineations ofthe wax surface is that the nickel and iron together will depositperfectly on the black-leaded wax surface and that the customarymetallization of the wax-surface by means of a film of copper or silveror the like thereon is entirely avoided, and which 'metallization stepwhen employed naturally produces an outer surface on the plate which ismore or less soft and not capable of withstanding heavy pressure orportraying the delicate color required in half-tone work.

The printing surface produced by my invention and composed of nickel andiron in one homogeneous composite layer or thicknessdifiers essentiallyfrom a nickel surface or an iron surface or a nickel surface 7 on aniron surface or an iron surface on a nickel surface or a plate made upof a layer 'of one metal superimposed on a layer of a different metal.

The plateof my invention while initially costing more than a copperplate is capable of ready production at reasonable expense and at lessexpense than a nickel'surfa'ce, although superior thereto since thenickel for the anode may be purchased at present prices for about fiftycents per pound and theiron sulfate for three and one-half cents perpound. In ractical use the plate of my invention W111 outlast several coper plates and henceis more economical 0 use than copper plates.

- I have discovered not only that the nickel and iron produce a rintingsurface of ex ceptional merit but that in carrying out my process thenickel and iron readily deposit and work together harmoniously, wherebya surface of uniform character is secured.

One economy secured in the use of my plates above copper andotherheretofore known plates is that they are capable when set u with othermatter on a 1press, of withstan ing long runs without c ange in theirprinting face, whereas under like conditions making ready essary thestoppin of the press andthe o the form, which in itself is 'a mattergreatly to be avoided I not only attain economy in the practice of myinvention but secure a printing plate which in itself ischaracterlstically different from the plates of the prior art. I havedescribed my invention as embodied in a printing plate for use in aprinting press but do not confine my invention exclusively 'to a printinplate in a strictly technical sense, since t e plates produced by myinvention may be employed 'for stam 1ng and embossing and in other waysfor reproducing the designsdelineated on' them. My invention is ofspecial utility however for use in printing presses and particularly inmodern high-speed, presses used for long runs,

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. The process of rod-ucing a printing plate in'an electrolytlc bathwhich consists,

in preparing a mold bearing the characters to be produced in the plate,metallizing the surface thereof, suspending the samein the bath,simultaneously depositing nickel and iron electrolytically as an alloyon said metallized surface, to form the plate, removing the mold of theplate to and plate from the bath, and then depositing in another bath a.dif-

the nickel as the anode and the iron 'salt in the solution, removing the,platefrom the mold, and backing the plate.

3. The process of roducing a printing plate in an electrolytic bathwhich consists in Ipeparing a mold bearing the characters to surfacethereof, suspending the same in the bath, simultaneously depositingnickel and iron electrolytically as an alloy on said metallized surfaceto form the plate, with the nickel as the anode and the iron salt in thesolution, removing the mold and plate from the bath, and thendepositingiin another bath a different metal on the back of the plate toform a backing therefor.

4. The process of producing electrol tically a late in reproduction ofthe sur ace of a mo (1, which consists in preparing the mold in Wax,metallizing the surface thereof produced in the plate, metallizing theby a black-leading method, suspending the mold in the bath,simultaneously depositing nickel and iron electrolytically as. an alloy-on said metallized surface to form the plate, removing the mold andplate from the bath, and backing the plate, the nickel in such processbeing in t e form of an anode suspended in the bath and the iron a saltin solution in the bath. v

5. The method of making an electrotype, comprising electrolyticallydepositing upon the conducting surface 0 a mold an alloy of nickel andiron, and a plying a backing 'of another metal to said eposit-ed alloy.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New.York and State of NewYork, this 22nd day of April A. D. 1909;

' AUGUST LEUCHTER. Witnesses:

